The San Diego Padres' ongoing quest for a World Series (or at least a playoff title). "You know that many runners enter a race, but only one of them wins the prize. So run to win! Athletes work hard to win a crown that cannot last, but we do it for a crown that will last forever." 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

Results tagged ‘ latest leaders ’

In January’s Latest Leader’s list, Unfinished Business is #5. I am consistently amazed and humbled by the way you guys read my blog. All I can say is THANK YOU. Thank you for wanting to hear the rants about the Padres from one girl. Thank you for your support of me and this blog. I never imagined where this would go when I made it 2 1/2 years ago. I hope that I will be able to continue to write about my boys for you guys for a long time.

And of course, I must dedicate this ranking to my boy :)

Be still my heart. Oh wow.

Seriously. That guy is way too cute.

ANYWAYS, we are ridiculously close to pitchers and catchers reporting. I’m soooo excited!! I was just thinking the other day how much I miss baseball. I’m usually so busy during the offseason that I barely notice that baseball is gone, which is a good thing, but I’m SOO excited that it’s coming back. It’s been waaaaay too long.

But before everyone heads out to Spring Training, we’ve got Fan Fest in a week. I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to make it. There’s some technical details that need to be worked out, but if all goes well, I will be out there at my second home, Petco Park, in a week. By the way, I’m planning to wear my Adrian jersey, but I will definitely have Kouz on my sleeve. Maybe I’ll use the picture above. It’s just waaaaay too cute. Whew.

A couple of days ago the 2010 Leaders on MLBlogs.com came out, and this blog was the 8th most popular blog all year!! I’m so excited. Thank you guys so much :)

It was so much fun to blog during 2010, especially with how well my Padres played. I am very, very excited about next season, though. I just put up my 2011 schedule, which is actually quite the ritual for me. Ever since I became a Padres fan in 2007, I’ve put the season schedule on the wall next to my bed. This year is my fifth year of being a Padres fan. Of course, five is a very significant number because that’s Kouz’s number. I’m really excited to celebrate my 5th year of being a Padres fan :)

Aaaand I miss my boys. It seems like forever that we’ve had any baseball. I’m so excited about how close baseball is to starting. I just can’t wait to see how good this team is going to be. The coolest thing about starting a new season is that you never know what’s going to happen. Maybe we’ll stink, but hey, at least we’ll get to watch some baseball. But maybe we’ll be the greatest team in the MLB. You just don’t know. Sometimes, you don’t even know until the last few days of the season :)

I can’t wait for baseball, and the Fan Fest, which is going to be incredibly fun.

So I was looking at our team yesterday, and we seriously have a ton of holes. I feel like guys are slipping out of our hands so fast that we can’t catch them all and they’re leaving us completely empty.

Who have we lost this offseason already? Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox, Yorvit Torrealba to the Rangers, Miguel Tejada to the Giants, Kevin Correia to the Pirates, and now Tony Gwynn Jr. to the Dodgers. Plus we lost Chris Young. Our roster is looking awfully thin right now.

But we have signed pitcher Aaron Harang, and we’re about to sign Dustin Moseley, who is also a pitcher. So now our rotation looks like…Mat Latos, Harang, Clayton Richard, Moseley, and Wade LeBlanc or Tim Stauffer. I don’t know. It might work, but it seems like a very unstable rotation.

Well, I guess we’ll have to see how things pan out. We’ve still got a ton of offseason left (waaaaaa), so we have a lot of time to pull a team together.

In other news, the Latest Leaders list on MLBlogs.com came out for the month of November. This blog is #5 of all fan blogs!!! I’m sooooo excited!! I think I was #5 a couple months ago, but 5 is my absolute favorite number and I’m so excited to get it again.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of you for reading this blog. It’s so much fun to know that you guys are reading so much that you’re putting this blog in the top 5 of all fan blogs. I can’t thank you enough!

Of course, I can’t mention the number five without showing you THE number five:

You know those series last week when we didn’t do too well? I think those are behind us. Ryan Ludwick has finally found his bat.

Last week was a little scary because our two big additions, Ludwick and Miguel Tejada, were seemingly hindering instead of helping. We lost four games last week, which we just don’t do. So you can understand my worry, but thankfully, things are looking up again.

Wade LeBlanc threw an absolutely amazing game last night. He only went 5.2 innings, but he only allowed five hits, one run, while striking out eight. Whoo hoo! The one thing that I find absolutely incredible is his hitting this year! He had another hit and RBI last night, which brings his average up to .324. He has 12 hits on the year.

Ludwick was the star of this game, though. He hit his first Padre home run in the bottom of the second, which gave us a 1-0 lead. LeBlanc singled in our second run later in the inning.

Then, in the bottom of the seventh, Ryan hit his second home run in the bottom of the seventh. I’m sooo happy that he’s getting his bat going. We need this guy to contribute if we want to keep our first place lead and keep pushing towards the playoffs.

The bullpen was great once again. The combination of Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams, and Heath Bell is back and strong as ever. Heath got his 32nd save of the year.

Great, great game. You have no idea how relieved I was to get the win last night. It’s always a good thing to start off a series with a win, especially at home.

The best news of all is that we have a little more breathing room on our first-place lead…for now. The Giants are now 2.5 games behind, which is a lot better than the 1 that they were last week.

By the way, I didn’t really want to get into this, but what Jonathan Sanchez said the other day REALLY ticked me off. I’m mostly trying to not let it go to my head, because that’s what he wants us to do. But this series against the Giants is going to be huge. We’re going into their park for three games. But look at is this way: the Giants have been trailing us for a long time. They’ve come within one game of tying us for first place, but they’ve never been able to quite make it. It’s going to be a very tough series, but I think the Padres are going to come out on top.

Also, I think that’s really bad sportsmanship of Sanchez. I mean, he had just lost a game, and I can’t blame him for being angry about it. But you don’t go boasting about the next team you’re going to beat. Not cool. Not cool at all.

The Latest Leaders list for July just came out, and I’m #10!! This is really exciting for me :) Thank you guys sooo much for reading consistently and supporting my blog. It means so much to me! Thank you thank you thank you!!

Hopefully we can get the win tonight and then another one tomorrow when I’m at the game. I’m super excited!!!! It’s going to be soo much fun.

Yesterday was a great day for Padres fans and all of San Diego. It was Opening Day, it was raining (sort of), and it was so much fun that I could be laughing my head off right now if I really wanted to. Because my Padres, at Petco Park, that pitcher’s park as it’s so often called, scored 17 runs. 17. Yeah, you read that right.

The start of the season on the road wasn’t that great, and definitely not what I was expecting. But then, once we get home in front of a home crowd of 42,843, things really turned on. I think the boys were a little frustrated about their start and everything really came out yesterday.

To start it off, Colbie Caillat sang the National Anthem and Phillip Rivers threw out the first pitch. I’ve heard a lot of theories that one or both of these people sparked out offensive bombing.

Then, as I talked about in yesterday’s entry, Kevin Correia went out there and threw amazingly solid. If he hadn’t been on his game like he was yesterday, things would not have been as pretty. But as it was, he was incredible. He threw 5.2 innings, only allowing two runs, two hits, four walks, and three strikeouts. Doesn’t look like much, but he was solid.

Take a look at the Braves’ Jair Jurrjens’ numbers: He only lasted 3.1 innings, allowing eight runs!! BWAHAHAHAHA!

Going into the bottom of the fourth, we had already scored a run on a Nick Hundley single in the second. But in that fourth inning, things really clicked for the Padres as they sent the Braves’ pitchers down the drain.

It all started with a Chase Headley double, a Will Venable single (then steal of second), and a Nick Hundley walk. I was very excited because we had bases loaded with NO outs, and we just had to get some runs in that inning. If only I’d known.

After that, T-Gwynn walked to drive in our second run. Up next was Kevin Correia, the starting pitcher, and guess what he did? He hit a two-run single!! I was laughing, it was so funny. I mean, you wouldn’t expect the pitcher to come up and actually help himself out, but that’s what happened!

A few batters later, Adrian hit a ground rule double to bring in yet another run. The Braves had seen enough, so they made a pitching change. Little good that would do.

Kyle Blanks doubled in two guys, and then Chase Headley singled in Kyle. Will Venable hit a two-run homer. Kevin Correia finally ended the inning by striking out. All in all, we scored ten runs and got seven hits in that fourth inning. And it was only the fourth inning!

I could not believe what was happening there. It was just so amazing, and so unlike what I’ve been seeing for the last week!

In the bottom of the fifth, Kyle Blanks hit a three-run homer. It was about this time when I realized that Will Venable had had three hit so far in the game: a single, a triple, and a home run. And then I started getting really excited. Like breathing-hard-overwhelmed-with-excitedness excited. Like it could be actually possible that the Padres would get their first ever cycle.

Well, it didn’t happen. Turns out that both Will and Kyle were one hit away at the end, and neither of them got it. But that’s okay. I know (at least I’m hoping) that we will hit for a cycle someday. Even though it’s already been 40 years and it hasn’t happened. It will.

Even though they didn’t reach that goal, they both had incredible nights at the plate. Kyle Blanks had three hits and drove in five runs. Will had three hits, drove in two runs, and scored four runs. Other standouts in this game are David Eckstein, who had three hits, and Chase Headley and Nick Hundley, who each had two hits.

Overall, it was an incredible game. We were 10-for-17 with runners in scoring positon. And hey, we had 19 hits and 17 runs. IT WAS SUCH A SWEET GAME!!!

Another thing that was super exciting for me was when the Latest Leaders list for MLBlogs came out yesterday. I’m #10 on the list!!!

I’m sooooo excited!!! It was totally unexpected and completely uplifting. I’ve been blogging here for almost two years now, and the closest I’d ever been to the top of the list was #15. I’ve always been okay with wherever I was on the list, but it’s just really cool to know that people are reading my stuff and enjoying it too!

I know that I owe big thanks to a few people whose influence is definitely part of this ranking. Gaslamp Ball has been linking my entries on their blog for a while now, and I know that that’s helped me a lot. Thanks so much guys!! RJ’s Fro has also been linking by entries, and I know that that’s had a lot of influence too. I am so grateful to you guys! Thanks so much!!

Thank you also to websites that I’m not aware of who are linking my blog. It always excites me to discover you guys, and thanks so much!

And a HUGE thank you to all my readers. If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t even have a purpose for blogging here. Thank you so much for getting me to where I am today. I have a blast doing this, and I hope you love reading and I much as I love putting all this together. THANK YOU!!!!!

The Padres have an off-day in the middle of the series, which is a little odd, but I guess they deserve it after that amazing game yesterday. Man, we scored 17 runs!! So cool.

In the Latest Leaders here on MLBlogs, I got #19. I am excited about this for two reasons: 1) I think this is the best ranking I’ve ever had, and 2) I get to dedicate it to a very special Padres player.

I wasn’t a Padres fan when this player was with the Padres. It’s too bad, really. He was an incredible player. Thankfully, I have been able to hear tons of stories and the impact he made in San Diego was huge. Though I never saw him play, just the mention of his name sends thrills through this Padres fan. In the tradition started by Jimmy, I have the great privilege of dedicating this ranking to #19, Tony Gwynn.

Wow, where do you even start with a guy like this? I mean, this is Mr. Padre, the best player in Padres history!

Anthony Keith Gwynn was born and raised in California. In college (San Diego State University), he was not only a phenominal baseball player, but he was also an excellent basketball player. In fact, he was drafted by the San Diego Padres and the San Diego Clippers on the same day! Thankfully, he chose baseball.

Gwynn made his major league debut on July 19, 1982 for the Padres. His first major league hit was a double. His last game with the Padres was October 7, 2001. He played 20 seasons with the Padres, spending his whole career with San Diego. Naturally, he was offered a lot more money to go to another team, but he stuck with the Padres. He went to two World Series with the Padres, but lost both of them.

Tony was not a home run hitter. He never had more than 17 homers in a season. But he was an excellent contact hitter. He finished his career with a batting average of .338 and 3,141 hits. In 9,288 at-bats, he had 790 walks and only 434 strikeouts. He also had 319 stolen bases.

Tony was selected to 15 All-Star teams. An outfielder, he earned five Gold Gloves. He was also a seven-time Silver Slugger award winner. He has won a Roberto Clemente Award, a Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, and a Branch Rickey Award.

In 2007, Tony was elected to Baseball Hall of Fame, earning 532 votes out of 545. He was inducted to the Hall on July 29, 2007, with Cal Ripken Jr. The Padres revealed a statue in honor of Tony at Petco Park’s Park in the Park.

Tony was an incredible player for the Padres in his 20-year career. He will always be a legend in Padres history. Today, he keeps busy with coaching SDSU’s baseball team, working the Padres’ TV broadcast once in a while, and enjoying his family. Tony Gwynn has left a huge impact on San Diego. He will always be Mr. Padre.

Thank you so much to all my readers for getting me to where I am. Without you, this blog has no purpose. Thank you so much for keeping up with Padres baseball here at Unfinshed Business. You guys are great! I hope you all have a great weekend! GO PADRES!!

Thank you so much to all my readers for getting me to #21 on the Latest Leaders list this week! I moved up ten spaces, so I am very excited. This week, in the tradition started by Jimmy, I dedicate my ranking to #21, the Padres’ new closer, Heath Justin Bell.

Heath was born in and grew up in California. He signed with the New York Mets in 1998 as an undrafted free agent. He was in the Mets’ minor league system for eight seasons. He actually made his major league debut against the Padres, throwing two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. He went the next two seasons going back and forth between Triple-A and the major league club.

In 2006, he was finally traded to the San Diego Padres with Royce Ring for Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins. He never really got a chance with the Mets, so it was great that he got traded to the Padres. Once he was there, he got the 8th inning role as set-up man to Trevor Hoffman. In 2007, he pitched in 81 games and had 102 strikeouts. In 2008 he pitched in 74 games and had 71 strikeouts. He’s pitched a lot for the Padres!

Now he is taking the place of Trevor Hoffman in the closer’s role. Heath only has two major league saves, but he saved 108 games in the minors. He’s been in that closer’s role before, but closing the the minors is a lot different that closing in the majors. He knows that.

Heath is quite the character. He has said that he doesn’t like to talk to guys on the other team because he wants them to think that he’s slightly crazy. He’s like a kid, you know. But he’s very serious about his work, and working out and stuff. Over the offseason he lost 25 pounds by playing Wii Fit. He’s just really funny, in his quotes and his interviews. It will be very interesting to see how he handles the role of a closer, dealing with the failures and the press. He’s an intense guy, and he’s going to bring that out to the mound. Though I miss Trevor a lot, I can’t wait to see how Heath does this year. It will be a learning experience, but I think he will do very well.

Thank you again, so much, to all my readers. I’ve said this before, but it’s so true: without you guys, there is no purpose to this blog. So, thank you so much for reading and getting me to #21. It really means a lot to me. You guys are amazing! Thanks!

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